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Caption: TTC PCC 4762, a secondhand A14-class car originally built for Kansas City in 1946, lays over at Keele Loop off Weston Road (just to the north of St. Clair Ave. and Keele) at the end of its run across town on St. Clair Avenue. A pair of passengers appear to be waiting patiently at the streetside bus stop for the next northbound 89 Weston trolleybus, near the newspaper boxes offering riders the Globe & Mail, Toronto Telegram ("Enjoy The Tely") and the Toronto Daily Star. A shiny TTC GM New Look or "fishbowl" bus from the 2985-2999 series (only a few years old at the time), idles inside the loop, possibly on the 71 Runnymede route that connected with the St. Clair cars here.
In the background you can see the CN Express & Telegram building (later becoming a Ford dealership) and some trailers parked out back near the CN West Toronto freight yards. Compare this photo to one taken in 1980 at Keele Loop during its final years of operation: http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=31781
John F. Bromley photo, Dan Dell'Unto coll.
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What a classic old scene. I almost hate to think I was actually a teenager back then!!! A staple of my youth was it seemed everywhere I went there was a Globe & Mail box, and sales were based on the honor system as one could just reach in and get a copy without paying, but back then, people WERE more honest, it seems. Later on when the boxes gradually disappeared the Globe seemingly tried to make up for that by pestering via the telephone to offer subscriptions. The “Tely” died in 1971. When I first viewed this image, I thought it had “1950′s” written all over it. It is that classic. Good stuff, Dan.
I remember reading a bit about the Tely in one of the Eatons books, apparently the Eaton brothers had a stake in it with Conrad Black, and decided to pull the plug to cut costs and sell the subscription lists. The Toronto Sun apparently rose from the ashes.
Everything here was gone when I started passing through the area in the early/mid 90′s, but I do remember long drives along St. Clair passing the old Ontario Stock Yards, Fastfrate trucking sheds, Roadrailer Triple Crown trailers, and even the old CP West Toronto roundhouse that was still intact. Too young for any photos though.
Cannot see the bus. Was it cropped out? It would be the Runnymede route. Note the tracks in foreground to allow St.Clair Car to continue northward to Avon Loop (Rogers Rd) in rush hours only. Note too dual wires for Weston Rd trolley coach. BTW Keele bus did not run past here, that is a recent re-route due to St.Clair LRT platform prevents right turns at Old Weston Rd and St.Clair. Poor planning. If located before the stop it would work but not far side stop.
SCROLL! Ha! Ha!
Woops, thanks for the correction on the 41 Ray. When I was looking up the 41 Keele route history it appears I misread the map routing at the south end.
Sometimes the wider image uploads need a bit of scrolling, depending on the browser or device used